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Since 1984, the University of South Dakota has offered its students the opportunity of spending an academic year abroad at the Université d'Orléans, located seventy miles south of Paris in the beautiful Loire Valley, whose châteaux served as residences for French nobility. The Université d'Orléans has a proud history as one of the oldest universities in Europe, dating from 1306. Closed at the time of the French Revolution, the Université d'Orléans was reopened in 1961 with a modern campus on the outskirts of the city. Today the Université d'Orléans accommodates 12,000 students in its three colleges--Law and Business, Liberal Arts, and Science--its Institute of Technology, and its School of Engineering.
The city of Orléans is a regional capital with a population of 220,000. The mild climate of the region makes Orléans a horticultural center as well, and a Floral Park near the University campus attracts many visitors throughout the year. The downtown area has preserved many of its lovely historic buildings, including the 13th-century Gothic cathedral. Each year in May, a festival honors Joan of Arc, the "Maid of Orléans" who delivered the city from the hands of the English in 1429. But history isn't all Orléans has to offer; the city center also offers a shopping center, a cultural center (with movies and cultural events), a botanical garden, a municipal theater, a municipal athletic center (with indoor pool, tennis courts, etc.), an ice rink and a lake. In addition to its rich cultural heritage, Orléans is a significant scientific and economic center, site of major French research institutions and such international companies as Dior, Hitachi, IBM, and Sandoz. Electronics, information processing, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, and nuclear energy comprise major segments of the local economy. As for the surrounding region, the Loire Valley offers its world-famous river surrounded by châteaux and vineyards and an especially rich assortment of museums dedicated to hunting, fishing, shipping, china, porcelain, and the traditional fine arts.
The University of Orléans is located on the edge of the city on a 250 acre wooded campus. The language courses are offered in a modern building completed in 1988. The College of Liberal Arts, where the French langauge courses are offered, is equipped with its own library, language labs, and modern audio-visual classrooms. The University of Orléans is one of the most active universities in terms of international exchanges. Each year, more than a thousand students from over seventy countries attend its classes.
The academic year at the University of Orléans begins in mid-October and continues through the beginning of June. Following a two-week orientation period, during which foreign students have approximately twenty hours of intensive langauge instruction, students are given a placement test known as the "examen de franCais langue étrangEre" to determine their level of fluency. Depending upon the results, USD students generally enroll in French language and culture courses leading to the Certificate of French Studies, though advanced students are encouraged to take regular course offerings at the university. The Orléans language program makes ample use of everyday life in Orléans and its surrounding communities. It blends formal language courses with a dynamic approach to French culture using workshops, conferences, tours of historic sites, and appearances by guest speakers. Specific methods include 1) audio-visual techniques; 2) texts and documents taken from current newspapers, radio and television programs; 3) written and oral exercises with students in role-plaing situations. However, depending upon their level of proficiency, USD students may also take classes in their fields of interest, such as English literature, the sciences, political science, or other foreign languages. Through the terms of the exchange program, USD students actually register for equivalent classes at USD (and pay regular USD tuition minus the student activity and health fees--which means they may still qualify for financial aid), complete the course work in Orléans and, based on their evaluations, are assigned grades by USD instructors. Students normally enroll for twelve credit hours per semester.
Participating students can be met at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris by a "famille d'accueil" or host family who will facilitate their arrival and introduction to Orléans. This family may also house students until they can find more permanent housing, generally in one of the Université d'Orléans dormitories. Once situated, students will begin their academic year. The French academic year is not divided into quarters or semesters. Instead, students follow the same courses throughout the entire academic year, which ends in June. There are, however, numerous opportunities for travel: two weeks of vacation at Christmas, a week in February, and a two-week Spring break.
The USD-Orléans exchange program is open to all students regardless of major, although upon completion of the year abroad most students find they have earned enough credits to easily complete a French major. The program does require previous study of French, ideally two years at the college level or the equivalent. Selection of students for the program is made by the Department of Modern Languages during the month of April. The USD-Orléans exchange program gives students the chance to improve their fluency in French and also to become better acquainted with the culture and traditions of France. For further information or to apply, please contact Department of Modern Languages (605-677-5357) or modlang@usd.edu.
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